The present invention concerns a holder having at least two receptacles which include holding means on the inside of the holder, where each receptacle is for an individual optical connector housing.
A holder consisting of two complementary parts is described in German Utility Model G 91 02 805.1. The holder has two receptacles consisting of a two-chamber interior, the interior of each chamber possesses a precisely configured profile which corresponds to the configuration of the defined outer profile of the respective connector housing. The connector housings are held securely in the holder so as to be immovable, and exhibit no radial mobility whatsoever with respect to one another or to the holder.
A holder of the aforesaid type having at least two receptacles, each for an individual optical connector housing, is described in European Patent EP-A2-0 408 852. Each receptacle has holding means located inside, in the form of four ramp-shaped elevations which interact with corresponding recesses in the outer surfaces of the connector housings. With this holder as well, the connector housings are held securely in the receptacles so as to be immovable. To allow relative radial movement of the connector housings with respect to one another, the receptacles are joined to one another by a resilient element. This allows a radial displacement of the connector housings according to the arrangement of corresponding coupling elements (for example complementarily configured connector housings or receptacles with electro-optical elements) during the coupling process. To guarantee sufficient radial mobility with sufficient overall rigidity (in terms of existing draft standards such as ANSI X3T9), this holder requires a relatively large space between the two receptacles. It is therefore problematical to hold connector housings with rectangular cross sections in a flat orientation, due to the spacings required by existing draft standards between connector housing longitudinal axes (or between connector pins held in the housings). Handling of this holder during insertion into corresponding coupling elements is problematical because to do so the holder must be grasped in the region of the resilient element, and the resilient element is thereby undesirably compressed and/or the relative radial mobility of the receptacles is impeded.
An object of the present invention therefore is to create a holder having a simple structural configuration with which individual connector housings can be joined, with relative radial mobility, to form a multiple connector, and which is extremely easy to handle during the insertion process.